NATO kills Haqqani leader believed behind Kabul hotel attack

BBC:

Nato forces in Afghanistan say they have killed a senior militant they suspect of involvement in the attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul.

Ismail Jan died in an airstrike in the eastern province of Paktia on Wednesday, the alliance said.

BBC correspondents say he was a leading commander in the Haqqani network, which is linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Nato and Afghan intelligence believe Haqqani members helped mount the hotel attack, which left at least 20 dead.

There has so far been no independent confirmation of Ismail Jan's death.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the hotel attack, but Nato said it was carried out jointly with the Haqqani network. The group has bases in Pakistan but focuses its attacks over the border in Afghanistan.

It has been accused of carrying out a number of high-profile gun and bomb attacks in Afghanistan in recent years.

A statement from the Nato-led Isaf force said Jan was suspected of providing "material support" to the hotel attackers in Kabul.

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There is more on the hotel attack. The Haqqanis receive protection from Pakistan which provides them a sanctuary. They have close ties to the ISI. That we quickly found the leader responsible for the attacks on the Kabul hotel suggest we got good intel on the attackers after the attack was underway. It may have been signal intelligence between the attackers and Jan.

 New Zealand special ops troops aboard the Blackhawk helicopters shot several of the attackers as they hid on the roof top of the hotel.